to cast off one 's old self

to cast off one 's old self

Cutting hair and washing marrow, a Chinese idiom, Pinyin is f ā m á ox ǐ Su ǐ, which means shaving hair and washing marrow. This is often used as a congratulatory word, praising its ability to transform itself. From the biography of Dongfang Shuo.

Analysis of Idioms

Cutting hair and changing marrow, remoulding and reforming

The origin of Idioms

According to the biography of Dongfang Shuo by Guo Xian of Han Dynasty, "I have been eating and swallowing Qi for more than nine thousand years. All the children in my eyes have green light and can see the hidden things. In three thousand years, I return to wash the marrow, and in two thousand years, I peel and cut the hair. I was born to wash the marrow three times and cut the hair five times."

Idiom usage

It means to be reborn. If you want to get rid of his bad nature, it's not a big deal. You can't take him as an individual again. (the third chapter of the collection of notes on literature in the late Qing Dynasty, China now) in the poem "bathing in Tangquan" by Huang Jingren of the Qing Dynasty, "I came just after the spring rain, the peach blossoms rose lightly and lingered; it was not lucky to chop hair and wash marrow, and the dust was removed from my stomach and intestines.". 」